The 52-Week Pledge: Achieving Any Major Dream Means Making A Major Sacrifice [Week Thirteen]

Last week I stated that one of my major challenges with following my dreams and pledging to not let anything stand in my way of completing my goals is the fact that I occasionally get sleep deprived. After speaking with a friend about what I was going through they assured me that sleep deprivation is an OCCASIONAL occupational hazard when chasing a dream, but then they asked me a question I didn’t know how to answer: What have I decided on SACRIFICING to reach my goals? And seeing as sleep was no longer considered a viable option, I really didn’t have a good answer to that. In fact, it’s safe to say I had no clue what I was willingly able to give up in order to fulfil the destiny I want.

The crazy thing is, one of my favourite quotes of all time is “you can have everything you want in life – just don’t plan on getting it all at the same time.” I take that to mean we all can achieve happiness personally and professionally, but the reality is we can’t give our 100% focus to each, which means one will have to suffer FOR NOW, in order for the other to be a success. Keeping that quote in mind, I felt like I should definitely have a ready made list of the things I’m willing to sacrifice to achieve my entrepreneurial dreams, but to say deciding on what it should be is EASY, would be a massive understatement.

Ok..maybe not THIS serious..

But I think this is a major part of the goal many of us may have overlooked.Some of us are so busy attempting to balance unrealistic schedules, that we have forgot to realize that one MAJOR part of this challenge will inherently include us scaling back on something to make room for our new progress. Now understand, there are certain things that should obviously be non-negotiables in terms of eliminating from your life, such as: Family time, quality time with your significant other, ALL free fun time, exercise and sleep, but other than those things, sacrificing a major activity in your life is a must. And with that said, I realized what I’m willing to sacrifice: TV & movies.

That may sound like a small and insignificant sacrifice to many of you, but I have come to realize that those two things have monopolized FAR too much of my time in the past. I’m the kind of person that could easily sit in front of the TV for hours on end surfing through different channels and effectively wasting time. This is the second best answer for me, because being single gives me NO romantic relationship to call quits, and THAT would have been number 1 had I been involved with someone.

This week I think it’s important that we all help each other MOVE FORWARD in the challenge by helping each other take STEPS AWAY from something we really LIKE doing that is only standing in the way of our productivity.

As 2013 slowly starts to loom, it’s time we all get serious and begin to make sure we are LIVING the lives we want by the end of the year, so we don’t have to rely on empty resolutions made at the start of the new year about how much we’re gonna “own it” – let’s just go out and do it.

This Is Your Conscience

When Lincoln Anthony Blades is not writing for his controversial and critically acclaimed blog ThisIsYourConscience.com, he can be found contributing articles for Uptown Magazine. Lincoln wrote the hilarious and insightful book "You're Not A Victim, You're A Volunteer: How To Stop Letting Love Kick Your Ass". He is also a public speaker who has sat on panels all over North America and the Caribbean.